Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Fijian Chicken Curry
Bone-in chicken braised with Fiji curry powder, whole spices, tomato and a pounded ginger-garlic-chilli paste.
Indo-Fijian · medium · serves 6
prep 20 min · cook 45 min
~502 cal · 59g protein · 15g carbs · 20g fat · 2g fiber · 2g sugars · 8g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Chicken curry is one of Fiji's most-eaten dishes, part of the Indo-Fijian cooking that arrived with indentured labourers from India after 1879 and is now simply everyday Fijian food, sold and cooked beside and rather than kept apart. It is often named among the country's national dishes alongside the lovo earth-oven feast.
The backbone is Fiji curry powder, a local masala, bloomed in with whole spices such as cinnamon, , cloves and cumin. Onions are cooked down until deep gold, then a pounded paste of ginger, garlic and chilli and a little tomato build the base before the chicken goes in on the bone.
The curry is cooked until the meat is tender and the separates from the sauce, then finished with fresh coriander. It is served with rice, roti or boiled dalo (), usually with dhal and a fresh salad alongside.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
3 lbs bone-in chicken, cut into curry pieces
3 tbsp
1 large onion, thinly sliced
8 garlic cloves
2-inch piece fresh ginger
2 to 3 red chillies
1 large tomato, chopped (or canned)
3 tbsp Fiji curry powder (masala)
1 cinnamon stick
4 pods
4 cloves
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 potatoes, cut in chunks
a handful fresh coriander, chopped
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Pound the garlic, ginger, chillies and a little salt to a rough paste. Heat the ghee in a heavy pot and fry the cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and cumin until fragrant.
2
Add the onion and cook, stirring, until deep golden, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the ginger-garlic-chilli paste and cook another minute.
3
Add the chopped tomato and the curry powder, season with salt, and cook down to a thick base until the ghee starts to separate.
4
Add the chicken and turn it to coat. Cover and cook over low heat until the chicken releases its juices, then add the potatoes and a splash of water and simmer until the chicken and potatoes are tender.
5
Stir through the coriander, adjust the salt, and serve hot with rice, roti or boiled dalo.
Indo-Fijian home cooking, Viti Levu.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Viti Levu. Root crops here have a name that says how they are regarded: kakana dina, real food, covering dalo, the taro, along with cassava and yam. A meal without one of them is not a meal, whatever else is on the table, and the lovo pit is how they are cooked for anything larger than a family dinner.
🗺️
Fiji. Fiji is usually counted at 332 islands with roughly a third of them inhabited, and the water between them supplies most of the protein. Yaqona, the pepper-root drink outsiders call kava, comes with its own protocol of clapping and cupped hands, and is offered before a serious conversation at least as often as before a meal.
🌍
Oceania. The twentieth century changed the Pacific plate faster than anything before it. White rice, tinned corned beef, mutton flaps, flour and sugar arrived by ship and are now entirely everyday, and the public health consequences are among the most closely studied anywhere. Alongside that, Australian and New Zealand kitchens have taken up Asian technique and Maori and Pasifika cooking in a way they had not before.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Fiji
Kokoda (Fijian Coconut Ceviche)Fresh fish "cooked" in lime, then mellowed in rich coconut cream with chili, onion, and tomato.
BabakauPuffy, faintly sweet Fijian fried bread, crisp outside and pillowy within, torn and dunked in sweet milky tea for breakfast.
VakaloloDense baked cassava under a dark coconut caramel, one of Fiji's oldest sweets, cut into sticky squares.
Browse all Fiji recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
Storing it: Stews and braises keep 3 to 4 days refrigerated and often taste better the next day. Reheat gently, adding a splash of water if it has thickened.
Make it a Fiji meal
Kava (Yaqona)Drink
VakaloloDessert
Fiji Roti ParcelLunch
Similar dishes from around the world
Burmese Chicken CurryMyanmar
Seco de Pollo (Chicken Stew)Ecuador
Akoho sy Voanio (Coconut Chicken)Madagascar
Aigir (Tolai Coconut Chicken)Papua New Guinea
Saint Lucian Chicken CurrySaint Lucia
Moamba de Ginguba (Peanut Chicken Stew)Angola
Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Fijian Chicken Curry?
Bone-in chicken braised with Fiji curry powder, whole spices, tomato and a pounded ginger-garlic-chilli paste.
Where does Fijian Chicken Curry come from?
Fijian Chicken Curry is a Indo-Fijian dish from Viti Levu, Fiji.
Can Fijian Chicken Curry be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Fijian Chicken Curry recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Fijian Chicken Curry safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Fijian Chicken Curry take to make?
About 65 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 45 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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